The Silo for Pork Tenderloin [Pictures]

LTH,

Appetite whetted by prior LTHForum discussions, and finally reeled in by the Tribune article's "bun overlap" description, Steve Z and I ventured to Lake Bluff to meet Cathy2 for an Iowa style Pork Tenderloin at The Silo. The Silo, as any place named the Silo should be, is casual, quite large, with multiple levels, and a comfortable looking, and active, bar area.

We went slightly after the lunch hour and, even with the boost from the Tribune article, service was quite good, in fact our waiter was downright friendly, even to the point of bringing over another patron who happened to be from Iowa, and knew quite a bit about pork tenderloin, to chat.

We started with forgettable chili, not bad, but any chili with a noticeable sweet flavor, and beans to boot, is not exactly going to make my chili hall of fame.

Silo Chili


The hand pounded, in-house, pork tenderloin was quite good, crisp, greaseless and substantial '"bun overlap", a very satisfying sandwich.

Silo Pork Tenderloin


Pickle and onion lent a nice contrast, and the fries were good, though needed to be crisper to move up to very good.


The Silo pounds their pork quite thin and the breading, while substantial, and crisp, does not overpower the pork.


The Silo's Iowa style pork tenderloin was certainly worth the drive to Lake Bluff, a very good sandwich that, if I lived or worked in the area, would be on my regular lunch line-up. Even though the pork tenderloin is getting all the press everyone I've mentioned the Silo to has commented on the pizza. The Silo is known for pizza, which, as we did not try, or even see served, I have no comment on.

Enjoy,
Gary

The Silo Restaurant
625 Rockland Rd.
Lake Bluff, IL
847-234-6660

In all the years I have been associated with these people, it is only the 3rd time I’ve met anyone within 15 minutes of where I live. When I met Gary and Steve Z, I carefully looked to see if there were any nosebleeds or any signs of panic attacks being so far out of their comfort zone. My goodness they were actually in Lake County, which is practically a foreign country for them. On the surface they appeared to be their usual selves, though a bit more somber than usual. Travel does affect people in different ways.

Gary was absolutely correct when he said we had a very friendly waiter at The Silo. Of course, we did have his restaurant-spy-secret-shopper radar on when we asked about their best-of food offerings. While we came for the tenderloin, he indicated their chili and their pan pizza were their best offerings. We did indeed go for the chili, which both Gary and Steve found disappointing, nobody was in the mood for a pan pizza. If he had recommended the thin pizza, then it would have been likely ordered. Ultimately, we had one chili shared by the table and three pork tenderloin sandwiches.

When our waiter learned we were inspired to come due to the Chicago Tribune article. He advised there was another customer from Iowa who had done the very same. Ever on the search for another good find, I asked him to inquire with the customer about good sources for Tenderloin sandwiches in Iowa. Our poor waiter returned with garbled information, clearly he was multi-tasking and probably couldn’t devote all his attention to this Iowa source. Finally I suggested this person from Iowa might want to visit us before leaving, which he cheerfully arranged.

Jane came up the aisle with me waiving her to our table and pulling out a chair. We learned Jane is an Iowan at heart though she has been living in Wheaton for years. She indicated as much as she loves pork tenderloins, when she is in Iowa her heart belongs to Maid-Rite. She rated the pork tenderloin sandwich at The Silo as an 8.65 on a scale of 10. She said a well-made pork tenderloin is pounded so thin that once it is breaded you can hardly tell there is any meat present. She recollected her best pork tenderloin sandwich was her very first at the Iowa State Fair when she was 21. She recalled having a good one at Ina Mae’s in Muscatine, Iowa, which a search did not indicate any location. She has had the tenderloin at the Machine Shed, which she found to her liking. She could not recall the name of another tenderloin find around LaSalle-Peru in Illinois. Naturally at this moment of tip of the tongue memory lapse, we pulled out an LTHforum.com card with my e-mail address and all our screen names. So eventually when she recalls the name, she might just post here or drop me a note.

Jane commented before she left she’s been a foodie all her life. She hopes when she retires to drive around the back roads and drop in on every joint she sees. I told her I have precisely the same ambition to simply bum around collecting food tips and stories while seeing the USA. Jane left to continue her trip to the wilds of Wisconsin, though I do hope this is just our first meeting and not our last.

I left our super team of food explorers, Gary and Steve Z, with instructions on how to reach Captain Porky’s. I told them I am not quite sure Dino really knows my name, though he knows my face. Gary advised he had my photo in his digital camera as a calling card to Dino. I went home and those guys turned north plunging further into the frozen tundra known as Lake County.

Regards,

G Wiv wrote:The hand pounded, in-house, pork tenderloin was quite good, crisp, greaseless and substantial '"bun overlap", a very satisfying sandwich.

I like that the bun is overlapped, but this means that it cannot serve its god-given purpose, to wit: to provide a hand-held platform for consumption of that which it cuddles. Would it not be better with a somewhat bigger bun -- I cannot help but think so...though perhaps that would inspire the makers of the tenderloin to simply make the meat bigger, until it overlapped the plate, then the table, then...

Anyway, the lunch looks magnificent.

Hammond

Hammond,

In the Tribune article, they suggested you eat the overlapped, or unbunned, regions first. If you are already feeling full by the time you reach the bun, then you know you have before you a rather ideal pork tenderloin sandwich.

At least a pork tenderloin is all meat rather than the pork chop sandwich at Jim's Original. When consuming a pork chop sandwich, you must always be cognizant of where the bone is to avoid chipped teeth or worse.

Lunch was magnificent!

Regards,

Is a bottle of green Yucateco habenero hot sauce really at all the places you dine?

Vital Information wrote:Is a bottle of green Yucateco habenero hot sauce really at all the places you dine?

Just coincidence.

After reading the Tribune article on Pork Tenderloin on Thursday, I just had to try one. Gary & I made the trek out to the Silo to meet Cathy2 for lunch on Friday. The experience was already pretty well described earlier in the thread, so I'll just add my impressions of the sandwich. It's best attribute is that it is big. I'm not saying that it's not a good sandwich or that I wouldn't have one again if I didn't have to drive out to the hinterlands to get it, but aside from the novelty of hand pounded and breaded meat, the taste was nothing all that special to me. Next time I get a "I need somthing deep fried and breaded" jones, I'll probably opt for fried chicken instead. The one thing that came out of this lunch was that I descovered the combination of ketchup and Yucateco habenero hot sauce is a big winner.

David Hammond wrote:
I like that the bun is overlapped, but this means that it cannot serve its god-given purpose, to wit: to provide a hand-held platform for consumption of that which it cuddles. Would it not be better with a somewhat bigger bun -- I cannot help but think so...though perhaps that would inspire the makers of the tenderloin to simply make the meat bigger, until it overlapped the plate, then the table, then...

You have hit the nail on the head, a bigger bun means you need a bigger terderloin. This practice is expressly forbiddeed by the tenderloin/bun non-expansion treaty of 1986.

Cathy2 wrote:At least a pork tenderloin is all meat rather than the pork chop sandwich at Jim's Original. When consuming a pork chop sandwich, you must always be cognizant of where the bone is to avoid chipped teeth or worse.

Sage advice.

I understand eating the unbunned portion first (wouldn't it be impossible to do otherwise )

David

Gary, Cathy and Steve:

Thanks for the post, the Tribune article piqued my interest. Since reading it, I have been wanting pork tenderloin.

Anybody want to join me on an Iowa roadtrip?

HI,

Before hitting the road for Iowa, I want to try several more of the local variants recommended by the Chicago Tribune:

Oink rating: 1 oink, "Order the burger"; 2 oinks, "I was hungry"; 3 oinks, "OK . . . for Illinois"; 4 oinks, "Gosh, almost makes me forget the hills of Dubuque"; 5 oinks, "Closest thing to (Iowa) heaven."

The Silo

625 Rockland Rd., Lake Bluff 847-234-6660

...

Price: $7.95

Rating: 5 oinks

-- Mike Conklin

The Igloo

2819 4th St., Peru 815-223-0848

...

Price: $3.05 for a single; $5.35 for a double.

Rating: 4 oinks

-- Jon Yates

Kelley's Restaurant

5420 S. U.S. Highway 14, Harvard 815-943-7558

...

Price: $4.95; $5.95 (deluxe with salad)

Rating: 4 oinks

-- M.C.

Blackberry Inn

Illinois Hwy. 47 and Main Street, Elburn 630-365-2200

...

Price: $5.95 (with fries and side)

Rating: 3 1/2 oinks

-- Reid Hanley

Culver's

Locations around Chicagoland

...

Price: $3.89 for the sandwich, $6.09 for a basket (with drink and fries).

Rating: 3 oinks

-- J.Y.

Machine Shed Restaurant (Several locations)

7475 E. State St., Rockford 815-229-3276

...

Price: $5.99 for the sandwich; $6.99 for the platter.

Rating: 3 oinks

-- R.H.

Petros

160 N. LaSalle St. 312-357-2700

...

Price: $8.95 (includes soup or salad)

Rating: 2 oinks

-- M.C.

Friends from Culinary Historians had been to Blackberry Inn just last weekend and were raving about the Pork Tenderloin there as well as the hamburger.

Kelley's Restaurant in Harvard is not too far from where I get my apples. At 4 oinks it seems like a reasonable reason to visit.

Vital Information wrote:Is a bottle of green Yucateco habenero hot sauce really at all the places you dine?

Rob,

I was wondering the same thing. Then I realized that it's LTH's version of the traveling travelocity gnome.

Flip

"I discovered the combination of ketchup and Yucateco habenero hot sauce is a big winner."

While the combination of searing heat and sweet ketchup, does indeed sound good (scrambled eggs comes to mind). I found this shocking as a pork tenderloin topping.

In my youth growing up (literally) in the middle of a cornfield in central Indiana, oversized pork tenderloin were a staple. In fact, to say "oversized" and "pork tenderloin" would be redundant. Typically served in a roadside bar/restuarant, the standard condiment was the glow in the dark bright yellow frenches style mustard. Perhaps, Iowan's are more adventurous, but the addition of ketchup to our beloved tenderloin would have marked one as a clear outsider, and perhaps subject to curiousity, if not outright suspicion. :-)

I went to college in NE Iowa when pork rules and the tenderloins are big. We generally ate them with mayo but French's mustard was also used. I have had the tenderloin at The Blackberry Inn and it's pretty good.

fishie wrote:"I discovered the combination of ketchup and Yucateco habenero hot sauce is a big winner."

While the combination of searing heat and sweet ketchup, does indeed sound good (scrambled eggs comes to mind). I found this shocking as a pork tenderloin topping.

In my youth growing up (literally) in the middle of a cornfield in central Indiana, oversized pork tenderloin were a staple. In fact, to say "oversized" and "pork tenderloin" would be redundant. Typically served in a roadside bar/restuarant, the standard condiment was the glow in the dark bright yellow frenches style mustard. Perhaps, Iowan's are more adventurous, but the addition of ketchup to our beloved tenderloin would have marked one as a clear outsider, and perhaps subject to curiousity, if not outright suspicion.

I guess that's the demarcation between an Indiana tenderloin and an Iowa tenderloin. In the Tribune article, the reviewers all had a slightly different take on what constituted the proper condoments for a Pork Tenderloin, but all agreed that ketchup was mandetory, grilled onions were taboo (in favor of raw) and no one mentioned mustard as something they would put on their sandwich.

The thin crust pizza at the Silo is very good. It is very thin, with a bit of cornmeal on the bottom to prevent sticking. Similar to the O'Fame pizza that I liked in Lincoln Park 10+ years ago. The deep dish, which they claim as a specialty, has too much dough for my taste. I have never had the tenderloin sandwich there though....will have to try it next time.
-Will

I have been meaning to update Will's rec of the thin crust pizza. Nothing has changed since he posted 8 years ago. At least very good, closer to excellent for the thin, almost cracker crust, Chicago tavern style pizza. I am a less is more guy with pizza toppings (maybe the only time I subscribe to this approach ), and once was talked into the Country Italia by the waiter (bacon, ricotta, garlic, sausage, and mushrooms). As a fan of ricotta on pizza, I bit. So many toppings, it ruined the pizza. My favorite is just sausage.

We occasionally eat in, but it is our go-to take out pizza living in Lake Forest.

Having grown up and lived much of my life near The Silo, I must admit to being mystified by the attention (including the Tribune's attention) given to the pork tenderloin sandwich. I'm not saying it's not good; I'm saying I don't know and neither does anyone I know---we've never tried it. Around here, The Silo is known for its pizza. Thin, very cheesy pizza.

Katie wrote:Having grown up and lived much of my life near The Silo...

we grew up near the Silo as well, it was our go to for pan pizza, Joe's in Wheeling (on wolf just north of dundee) was our go to for thin. Our family would have Joe's 20 times more than Silo, we just preferred thin crust more, not because Silo's pan was bad.

I haven't been to Joe's or Silo in decades.

stevez wrote: It's best attribute is that it is big. I'm not saying that it's not a good sandwich or that I wouldn't have one again if I didn't have to drive out to the hinterlands to get it, but aside from the novelty of hand pounded and breaded meat, the taste was nothing all that special to me. Next time I get a "I need somthing deep fried and breaded" jones, I'll probably opt for fried chicken instead.

realize that your post is 7 years old but have to put in, this is why I've always preferred a thicker tenderloin sandwich as I prefer to really taste the meat and get the chew of the tenderloin.

I went to school in east/central Iowa (Mt Vernon) and thankfully was able to find the thicker tenderloins I crave.